Texas Push 'Em: Betting Big on Research Universities

Mark C. Greenberg for The Chronicle

Ricardo Romo is president of the U. of Texas at San Antonio, one of the universities eligible to compete for millions of dollars in new state support for research. "We can be much, much better than we are," he says.

By Eric Kelderman

San Antonio

Texans, it seems, aren't content with being second in anything.
Now the state has set its sights on creating the nation's premier
higher-education system.

As esteemed public universities in California and other states
have faced major budget cuts, resulting in layoffs, furloughs, and
enrollment caps, Texas is setting aside hundreds of millions of new
dollars to bolster the research and prestige of its
universities.